Four dead, 14 injured – state TV

The official casualty figure for the double bombing in Damascus – given on state TV – is that four security guards were killed (plus two suicide bombers), and that 14 people, military and civilian, were wounded.

State TV also said that the two bombs went off about 10 minutes apart.

Our colleague Mona Mahmood has spoken to two more residents in different parts of Damascus and they confirmed the earlier account from Ashraf Khatab about increased security measures following the explosions.

Azher Hamza, a resident of Baramka district, said new checkpoints have been set up today and soldiers are checking everyone.

"For cars, it is really difficult to move between districts," he said. "We did not send the kids to school in fear of the security situation."

Selwan Nasir, a resident of Nahr Aisha, said most of the main roads have been sealed off. "Most of the people who work at governmental institutions could not go to work today."

Maya Naser's last assignment

The video above, posted on YouTube, is said to show Press TV journalist Maya Naser at the scene of today's explosions in Damascus, shortly before he was killed.

Naser – a Syrian and reportedly a Christian – had a blog which reflected sympathy for the Syrian government and blamed the conflict on the "west and al-Qaida". In a blogpost last July, he wrote: "Bottom line is; my people are dying and I am still in the line waiting my turn."

1.51pm BST

Resident describes the scene in Damascus

Ashraf Khatab, a resident of Damascus who lives less than a kilometre from today's bombings, has been talking via Skype with our colleague Mona Mahmood.

When the first explosion took place at seven in the morning, I was in bed. I woke up to massive sounds of explosion, followed by gunfire that lasted for almost half an hour. Soon afterwards, another explosion was heard. We could see clouds of smoke.

I asked some of my friends who live in Hay al-Muhajireen about the gunfire that followed the explosions. They said some of the military men who work in the building and facilitated the explosion and had defected were engaged in clashes with other members of the Syrian army.

All the routes that lead to Umayyad square were sealed off till 11am. The checkpoints nearby were in panic and they began to shoot in the air at random. There are 60 to 70 checkpoints in Damascus city and the rate of checking people is very high today. They [normally] stop people whom they suspect, but today they are stopping every single car to check the trunk and the front and people's IDs.

Access routes to Damascus from the suburbs and provinces were sealed off.

I have seen more than 10 ambulances moving injured people to hospitals, including the military hospital.

After all that panic, at 11.30am we heard a massive gunfire again from Umayyad square. Some of the regime supporters in General Staff buildings and the Syrian TV staff were marching in support of the regime and President Assad and were firing in the air for the killing of the defectors at the building.

Traffic is almost dead as most of the people decided to stay at home. Snipers are deployed at the top of the buildings. There are also cars with guns on top of them in front of some of the buildings.

Updated at 3.21pm BST

1.05pm BST

Explosions, then fighting with rebels

A clearer picture is beginning to emerge of events earlier today at the General Staff Command building in Damascus.

Activist Sami al-Shami has told Reuters that the main explosions were caused by a suicide car bombing and second car loaded with explosives on the perimeter of the military complex:

Then the fighters went inside and clashed with security inside, while some of the men started to torch the building.

There must be several security forces dead, there's no way the rebels could have made it in that far, fighting their way in, without killing any security forces.

Reuters adds that this version appears to tally with accounts from residents who heard gunfire and smaller blasts after the first explosions.

Videos of the fire at the General Staff Command building showed flames engulfing its upper floors, indicating explosives were planted inside the building itself.

The main gate was completely blackened from the fire while all the windows of the building were blown out. Shards of glass littered the nearby streets, TV foootage showed.

The blast gouged a deep crater, apparently where the explosive-laden car blew up.

Residents reported that gunfire rattled out around the district for at least two hours after the explosions. Roads in the area were blocked off as ambulances rushed to the scene.

A reporter for Hezbollah's al-Manar television said he was in the building after the explosion and saw the bodies of three "armed men", suggesting clashes between security forces and rebels at the site.

The video below, posted on Facebook by Damascus News Network, is said to show government forces celebrating after clearing rebels from the building.

He balanced condemnation of the "crude and disgusting" video, with a denunciation of the violence that it sparked.

Obama said there was still time for diplomacy over the Iranian nuclear programme, but not "unlimited time". He also called for a new, democratic and inclusive government in Syria but offered no new ideas about that might be achieved.

Syria: '100 dead so far today'

The number of people killed in Syria today has already reached 100, according to the opposition Local Coordinating Committees.

Seventy-three martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs including 50 in al-Thiabiya massacre, 15 in Barzeh massacre, 6 in Douma, 17 in Deir Ezzor (most of them were field-executed in al-Joura neighborhood), 4 in Hama, 4 in Homs, 1 in Aleppo, and 1 in Daraa

11.47am BST

Panicked soldiers 'shooting randomly in the air'

This morning's explosions in Damascus were followed by heavy gunfire that stretched on for hours at the Omayyad Square and around the military compound, AP reports citing witnesses.

One witness who managed to get close to the area, which was cordoned off, saw panicked soldiers shooting in the air randomly as they ran.

The witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said it appears that rebels may have been holed up inside the army command building, from where the sound of gunfire could clearly be heard.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said heavy clashes were taking place inside the compound of the army command, adding that there were casualties on both sides.

"The explosions shook the entire apartment and the windows shattered," said a resident of the nearby Abu Rummaneh district who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns. "It was like a quake."

The video below (in Arabic) is an official statement from the Syrian military.

Jail for tearing up picture of Bahrain's king

Bahraini activist Zainab al-Khawaja has been sentenced to two months in jail for tearing up a picture of the king, her lawyer says.

"Usually sentences for such crimes are just fines," Mohammed al-Jishi told Reuters by telephone from Manama.

Jishi said she faced eight more charges related to participating in protests. The next court hearing is on October 4.

She is a daughter of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, another prominent activist, who staged a lengthy hunger strike earlier this year in protest at his imprisonment.

11.05am BST

Tunisia: new fears over press freedom

Hopes for press freedom in post-revolutionary Tunisia are receding, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Over the past several months, the government appointed a series of new heads of media outlets, including state radio, print, and television establishments. The National Union of Tunisian Journalists denounced the government's move as an attempt by the authorities to place their sympathisers in powerful positions in order to control state-run media coverage – a tactic also used by Egypt's new government.

There is particular concern about Lotfi Touati, a former police commissioner and well-known government sympathiser, who was appointed as head of the Dar Assabah media group in August.

Touati's appointment stirred much controversy among Tunisian journalists. On 11 September, Dar Assabah journalists and other employees went on strike to protest his appointment. In 2009, Touati was accused of leading a government-orchestrated takeover of the leadership of the National Union of Journalists, according to news reports.

10.47am BST

Journalist was shot 'while reporting on air'

Here's the latest from Press TV on the killing of journalist Maya Naser. Press TV blames rebel fighters and says he was shot while broadcasting in Damascus.

Foreign-backed insurgents in Syria have killed Press TV’s correspondent, Maya Naser, by sniper fire while he was reporting on air in the capital, Damascus.

Press TV and Arabic language al-Alam TV network’s bureau chief Hussein Murtada also came under attack and was injured by the insurgents on Wednesday.

The two were covering twin blasts in Damascus and the ensuing fighting in the Syrian capital.

10.37am BST

Conflicting reports of casualties

More conflicting claims about casualties in today's bombings in Damascus.

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV, which says there have been deaths, is close to the regime (and thus has access to information) but doesn't necessarily follow the official line in its reporting. It reported the deaths of key regime figures in the July bombing before the regime announced them.

Assad’s grip over Damascus has become tenuous at best. Rebels are able to conduct bombings and attacks even in the most secured areas aided by informants embedded within Assad’s own security establishment. The battle of Damascus is set to begin at earnest soon, in what promises to be a very bloody development.

Updated at 9.29am BST

9.17am BST

Defence ministry on fire

The video above, posted on YouTube today, is said to show the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus on fire.

The scale of the damage caused by this morning's explosions is still unclear – the information ministry is playing it down and claiming that there were no casualties – but at the very least it seems to have rattled the regime which has responded with a security clampdown across the city.

✩ Syrian Commando ✩ (@syriancommando)

Whatever destroyed 2 top floors of the ministry of defense building was definitely not a car bomb unless it can fly. #Syria#Damascus

Summary

The Syrian authorities say the incident caused "only material damage" but there are reports of continuing gunfire in the area, as well as the sound of ambulance sirens. Photographs posted on the internet show a large building on fire.

He balanced condemnation of the "crude and disgusting" video, with a denunciation of the violence that it sparked.

Obama said there was still time for diplomacy over the Iranian nuclear programme, but not "unlimited time". He also called for a new, democratic and inclusive government in Syria but offered no new ideas about that might be achieved.

In an interview with the Associated Press he said: "God willing, a new order will come together and we'll do away with everything that distances us. I do believe the system of empires has reached the end of the road. The world can no longer see an emperor commanding it."

The new Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, is also due to speak at the assembly today.